Abbotsford Regional Hospital is hiring three more anesthesiologists to improve the safety and quality of obstetric care after a review identified a shortage of such specialists.

The review was commissioned last fall following the 2016 stillbirth death of Amari Mankatala. His death occurred as a result of a delayed caesarean section on Alisha Mankatala on a Sunday when only one anesthesiologist and one obstetrician were on duty and frantically attending to multiple urgent cases.

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There was also only one operating room available so even though Mankatala’s case was deemed urgent, she was placed in a holding area for about 30 minutes, and when the obstetrician finally did the surgery, the infant was already deceased and could not be revived.

Hospital spokeswoman Jacqueline Blackwell said more anesthesia coverage is set to become available in the next few months.

“We are actively recruiting with a good response for three new anesthesiology positions. We expect to have these positions working at the site by September. We are working collaboratively to ensure in-house coverage 24 hours a day with appropriate on-call coverage as a backup.”

Dr. Peter Beresford, Fraser Health head of obstetrics and gynecology, said last year that he was concerned about increasing volumes of baby deliveries: “Ten years ago, there were 1,500 babies delivered at Abbotsford hospital, but now, because of population growth, we’re at 2,600 each year.

“My particular concern is that the more babies you deliver, the more chance of something bad happening. It’s a function of numbers.”

The confidential review of obstetric services at Abbotsford Regional Hospital looked at whether existing resources were sufficient to handle the ever-increasing number of deliveries at the hospital each year. The review involved external medical experts from Richmond Hospital and B.C. Women’s Hospital but also included Abbotsford hospital staff working in obstetrics, anesthesiology, and nursing.

Blackwell said an ongoing process is evaluating staffing, workflow, and capacity. “For example, we are evaluating the times of day that the majority of deliveries present to the hospital to ensure we are aligning our daily staffing resources when these deliveries occur.”

In the Mankatala case, a review of the facts by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. found that a radiologist failed to call the obstetricians about an abnormal ultrasound on the patient when she first arrived at the maternity department. Without such a phone call, the college said there was no sense of urgency for the obstetrician.

Blackwell said that hospital staff has formed a working group, comprising maternity staff, physicians, and obstetric leaders, “to collaboratively identify ways we can build upon and enhance our communication within the department.

“As part of this work, we have increased the frequency of daily care discussions between physicians and staff to share knowledge about each patient’s unique care needs and have launched an internal newsletter to ensure staff stays informed about developments within the department. We are also looking at ways we can enhance ongoing educational opportunities for staff.”

Mankatala said since the review report is not public, she can only “surmise” that her complaints were taken seriously and that many areas require changes. But she said it is unfortunate that anesthesiologists are only now being added, 2.5 years after her baby’s death.

Since her baby’s stillbirth, Mankatala had a baby girl a year ago, a planned caesarean section, at the Abbotsford hospital.

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